ZAGREB, May 11, 2019 – The integration of migrants and helping them find employment is a positive and important example of solidarity which European Union member states show to people fleeing war and poverty, representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations told a panel in Zagreb on Friday ahead of elections for the European Parliament.
The panel, entitled “A Europe of solidarity”, also involved the head of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Croatia, Tvrtko Barun, and the state secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Žarko Katić, who spoke about positive cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organisations for the purpose of employment and integration of migrants.
Last year the Jesuit Refugee Service helped find work for 40 migrants, in most cases assisting entire families in settling their status.
“The main precondition for any integration is knowing the language,” Barun said. “Integration is a two-way process. Not everything depends on us, the government or the non-government sector. It is up to a person to make an effort and learn the language so they can communicate in their neighbourhood and at work.”
Katić said that cooperation between the government and non-government sectors was crucial for implementing quality projects. He noted that finding employment for migrants was particularly successful given that the Croatian economy needed a large number of workers.
“Employers are looking for workers all the time, and they are hard to find in the neighbouring countries. That’s why they are looking further afield from Croatia, as far as East Asia,” Katić said, adding that the government planned to accept 65,000 foreign workers this year.
Barun said that it was important to give confidence and funding to the non-government sector so that they could ensure effective cooperation. “Non-governmental organisations will do this work more effectively, more cheaply and faster than the government sector,” he said.
More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.
